For all the successful surgery carried out on Rangers, there remains work to be done.

In Europe, Steven Gerrard’s side are managing to achieve greater consistency, with a record 11-game unbeaten run clear evidence of that.

Domestically, however, the Ibrox squad are far from the finished article. Nine Premiership matches played, five wins, two losses and two draws. The defeat to Aberdeen in the Betfred Cup semi-final further increases Gerrard’s frustrations.

For all Rangers’ possession and dominance at times, Dons keeper Joe Lewis had just one save to make at Hampden on Sunday.

A pattern has emerged at Rangers and it’s one Gerrard has identified.

Sunday frustrated Gerrard (Image: Action Images via Reuters)

In fact, it’s something first raised by the manager on July 17 and repeated near word-for-word three months on.

Following the 0-0 draw against Shkupi in Russia – a result that was still enough to see the club progress in the Europa League – Gerrard criticised his forwards in one damning sentence.

Post-match he said: "There was a real lack of quality in the final third."

Read More

Alfredo Morelos was missing, too, only this time due to suspension. It would not be a surprise if Umar Sadiq – who laboured against the Dons – never appears in the light blue again.

When Rangers are good, they are dismantling the oppostion. Twenty-two goals have been scored by Gerrard’s side – the most in the league.

But against better defences such as Spartak, Celtic and now Aberdeen, they struggle.

It’s a situation identified by Gerrard and one he has pledged to fix.

“But what I’ll assure everyone is that won’t be our last semi-final. If it means I have to go and buy better quality players for when we get to this stage, that’s what will happen," he added on Sunday.

“If the players that we’ve got now don’t improve and start showing the quality we need in the final third, my job is to find the players who will. Otherwise, we are never going to win anything.”